The Large Hopper Is Back.

Yes, I know I have posted about this critter a few times before, but this large grasshopper sure does impress me.  So when I saw him on my back screen door, I held a dime up to show just how large he or she really is:

 

For its second picture, he moved from a profile view to a top view.  I guess he had his picture taken before and knew the drill: 

Today is election day.  I think that they should change the system.  I think instead of electing politicians to office, we should be allowed to have an election to pick who we want to remove from office.  Now, that would make some elected officials sit up and take notice. . . So, go elect the person of your choice and have a great day, you hear?
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OK, my son picked my wife and I up and we went to vote.  There was nobody there at the polling place so we drove around looking for other logical locations that they moved it to.  Finally called someone and found out that it was a special run-off election and it was only for a few precincts and ours was not one of them.  Hey, at least we got a nice ride in our son's big diesel truck.

Wondering About The Moon and Lizzy.

I have a question for you all.  Which side of the moon has the thickest crust?  I will answer that question later on in this posting.  But now I want to go back to 1892 on this date.  That is when Lizzie Borden's parents were found dead.  Lizzie took an ax to them.  Her father, Andrew, was found lying in a pool of blood on the couch in the living room.  His face had been nearly split in two.  Her stepmother, Abby, was upstairs with her head smashed to pieces.  Now, take a look at this innocent looking young lady and ask yourself, could she have really done that to her parents?  That is what the jury asked themselves and came up with the answer that, no, she couldn't.  They set her free.

I bet you all have heard the infamous rhyme:
                   
                              Lizzie Borden took an axe,
                              And gave her mother forty whacks:
                             When she saw what she had done,
                             She gave her father forty-one.


Since her parents were very well to do, she lived out her life in luxury.  I guess in this case, crime did pay.

Now back to the moon.  The nearest side (the one we see from Earth) is 16 miles thick.

 

The far side (The one we never see from Earth) is over twice as thick at 37 miles thick.

Now, how many of you got the answer right?  How many of you can't get the Lizzie Borden rhyme out of your mind?  There is no need to thank me for this (grin), it was my pleasure.  Now have a great day and be very, very careful with axes, you hear?

Wondering About a Book.

I bought a book today.  I am hoping that it will give me a huge source of blog material.  Have any of you seen this book:

 

 

I am sure hoping it has some interesting things I can use.  I have read a small portion and those few pages had information on Mr. Sears and Mr. Roebucks that I never knew.  So, if those couple of pages were any indication of what is in the rest of the book, I will have lots of stuff to post.  It is eight and half inches wide by eleven inches high and contains 597 pages.  Here is a picture of the back of the book:



So, get ready for some blog posts about the good old days out of this book.  I just love looking at pictures of the good old days, so this book may be just what I need to answer my questions and write blogs.  I hope I got you all thinking about the good old days and I also hope that this day will also be a good one for you.  Now, have a great day, you hear?

A Short Stroll Near My House.

After a trip to the flea market and coming home and having lunch, I took a short stroll outside.  It is unusually cool today, never got out of the 70's.  Really refreshing.  Therefore, took a stroll, snapped some pictures, and installed a new dryer vent.  So, come along on my short stroll.

On the banister around the deck, I saw this huge hopper:   

Sorry about this photo, either he or I moved.  After looking at the blurred leaves, I guess I was the one that moved:

There are a lot of these purple flowers blooming now:

Another area of them:

Here is a close-up of the flowers and a small moth or butterfly:

The wild Muscadine grapes are getting big.  They are about the size of big cherries:

And a few more grapes.  I bet when they get ripe, the birds will get them before I do.

This tall plant seems to be in two or three different stages of life.  I see buds, blooms, fuzzy seed pods, and empty pod bases:

This beautiful dragonfly was a good ending to my stroll:

 

And from another angle:

 

Then I got busy and installed the dryer vent.  I had caulking but couldn't find my caulking gun so had to run down to the hardware store and get one.  Got the job done:

Now, I am trying to decide whether to cut the grass or sit on the couch and take it easy.  Now what should I do?  So far, sitting on the couch has the most votes, but my wife hasn't voted yet. . . Now you all have yourselves a great day, you hear?

 

Wondering About Our Golden Anniversery.

Well, today I guess my wife and I should celebrate.  Today is our 50th wedding anniversary.  You know, it took about 50 years of being married to get to this day (grin).  So, would you like to hear the story about that day?  No!?!?, you say?  Well I am going to tell you anyway.

I kept asking her father for his approval and he said that he liked me but I couldn't marry his daughter until I had at least $20,000.00 in the bank.  Back 50 years ago that was a huge amount of money and if you look up the average income in 1964, it was about $6,000.00 per year.  And at that time that was about what I would earn, but I did work all the overtime that I could get which put me above the national average, but no where near twenty grand.  In other words, he said no.

Of course that didn't stop us.  But, we decided to do things a little different.  The first thing we did was get blood tests and requested a copy and for the doctor to not tell.  Then we arranged for a preacher.  A fellow from my class when at school and his date for the day, came along.  The night before, when my aunt was visiting us, I asked them if they wanted to go to a wedding the next day.  They asked who was getting married and I said "me".  Three mouths dropped open, but they agreed

In order to not be charged with the Mann act, we dropped off the two girls and they took a taxicab across the border.  My friend and I followed behind and then we picked the girls up on the other side.  Most eloping couples from Pennsylvania go to Maryland to get married.  We chose Mayville, NY because it was in the opposite direction and then we spent a very short honeymoon in Ohio.  Yes, we were a conniving couple!!  Anyway, that was 50 years ago today.  So far, the only ones to remember were my best friends in Pennsylvania who did the same thing about a year later.  They sent an email to congratulate us.  Maybe my wife and I could go out to Luby's and get a bite to eat, what do you think?  Now, I want you all to also have a great day, today, you hear?

Wondering, How Hot It Can Be

Tomorrow will be August, which I believe is one of the warmest months in the northern hemisphere.  But, did you know the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth happened over 101 years ago on July 10, 1913.  So, where was this record set and how hot was the record?  Inside the present-day Death Valley National Park, it reached 134 degrees Fahrenheit!!  Now, that is what I call Hot, Hot, Hot!!

 

This dog seems to know the secret of keeping cool.  It is keeping your ears cool and your whole body feels cool.  Seems to work for Basset Hounds, and I have a fan next to where I sit, so I guess it works for me, too.

 Of course kids know how to get cooled off.  Water and kids go together on hot days:

 

Of course, no matter how hard we try, sometimes we just can't get cooled off:

 

 

Now, stay in the AC and keep cool, you hear?

 

Wondering About the VW.

On this day back in 2003, the last of the original Volkswagen Beetles was produced.  Before than, stating after World War II, they produced 21,529,464 of the classic Beetles.  My wife's uncle brought one back from Germany years ago after a vacation there.  It wound up being owned by my Dad and I drove it a few times.  It was a great car for ice and snow.  With the motor in the back, it had great traction on ice but when you tried to turn to either side, it would keep on going straight.  A little more weight on the front wheels would have helped.

It was all Adolf Hitler's fault.  He requested that a small, inexpensive, but tough and reliable, car be made that would satisfy the needs of the German people.  That was back in 1939.  In 1960 the Beetle was the top-selling import in America.  Here are a couple of VWs that are of the same vintage as the one I was talking about above:

 

Did you notice the small rear window?  It is newer than the ones with a split rear window but older than the ones with the large rear window.  This is the style we had and the one below is the color that we had:

 

These cars bring back a lot of good memories for me, so it is fitting that I post about the last production day of the Beetle.  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?